April has been designated as Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) by the National Sexual Violence Resource Centre. Sexual assaults are one of the most difficult crimes to wrap one's mind around - at least it is for me. A few shocking stats:
In the US:
- It is estimated that for every 1,000 women attending a college or university, there are 35 incidents of rape each academic year.1
In Canada:
- Over half (59%) of all victims of police-reported sexual assault were children and youth under the age of 18. The rate of sexual assaults against children and youth was over 1.5 times higher than the rate for young adults aged 18 to 24.
- Child and Youth Victims of Police-reported Violent Crime, 2008
So what can we do? The National Crime Prevention Council has a few tips to reduce your chances of being sexually assaulted. Follow these tips from the National Crime Prevention Council:
- Be aware of your surroundings — who’s out there and what’s going on.
- Walk with confidence. The more confident you look, the stronger you appear.
- Know your limits when it comes to using alcohol.
- Be assertive — don’t let anyone violate your space.
- Trust your instincts. If you feel uncomfortable in your surroundings, leave.
- Don’t prop open self-locking doors.
- Lock your door and your windows, even if you leave for just a few minutes.
- Watch your keys. Don’t lend them. Don’t leave them. Don’t lose them. And don’t put your name and address on the key ring.
- Watch out for unwanted visitors. Know who’s on the other side of the door before you open it.
- Be wary of isolated spots, like underground garages, offices after business hours, and apartment laundry rooms.
- Avoid walking or jogging alone, especially at night. Vary your route. Stay in well-traveled, well-lit areas.
- Have your key ready to use before you reach the door — home, car, or work.
- Park in well-lit areas and lock the car, even if you’ll only be gone a few minutes.
- Drive on well-traveled streets, with doors and windows locked.
- Never hitchhike or pick up a hitchhiker.
- Keep your car in good shape with plenty of gas in the tank.
- In case of car trouble, call for help on your cellular phone. If you don’t have a phone, put the hood up, lock the doors, and put a banner in the rear mirror that says, “Help. Call police.”
And I'll add one here: Get a smartphone and install the SOS LINK app so that you (or your loved ones) can alert your/their friends and family in case of an emergency.
Hello Friends,
I apologize - it has been awhile since my last post. We've been busy here at SOS LINK, getting ready to launch new products and working on all sorts of new things to show you. It has been a really exciting spring!
Our mission here at SOS LINK is to promote personal safety. We believe in our products and know that our apps will have an incredible impact in the community. We are confident that our range of SOS LINK apps will not only be able to identify perpetrators, but will ultimately work to PREVENT acts of violence or aggression. So, of course, we want to spread the news!
And thus a BIG update for you...
We've got some new videos about our product up on YouTube! Actually, we have our own channel now! Check out www.youtube.com/soslinkcom to see our videos and learn a little more about us. In 90 seconds, you will learn more about how you, and your loved ones, can use SOS LINK to stay safe.
When you have watched our videos, I hope that you will send the link to the videos to all of your friends, your friends' parents, your colleagues, your family, the parents of your children's friends, your child's school teacher... you get the drift. We want to do what we can to let people know about these smart, simple and safe apps that people can use to help keep themselves safe.
As always, be sure to keep checking www.soslink.com for product updates and for information about how to get our apps.
From the headlines today:
"A Canadian court was to hear a tape recording Tuesday of a former immigration judge who is alleged to have sought sex from a South Korean woman in exchange for granting her asylum, court officials said."
"...Prosecutors allege Ellis told Ji-Hye Kim he would deny her refugee claim in September 2006 unless the then 25-year-old slept with him."
The above sentences could be a lead-in to many a rant. But essentially, this is an example of exploitation at it's finest.
- young woman & older man? check
- language & cultural issues? check
- major power differential? check
- asylum seeker who would have a lot to lose if she was to be sent back? check
- agressor who is well known and widely respected in the community? check
So, who is going to believe the young asylum seeker who, theoretically, would have nothing to lose by pulling out all the stops to stay in Canada?
"...At the start of the trial on Monday, the prosecution read excerpts of their conversation, which was secretly recorded by Kim and her boyfriend. The audio and video recordings were to be played for the court on Tuesday, said court officials."
What if she hadn't taped the conversation? Really, who would have believed her?
The Implications...
Technology isn't always the mean "big brother" we tend to fear and whine about. Maybe we should consider that it may just be more like an older brother that will be there to intervene ...if anyone decides to mess with his little sister.
And this, my friends, can be a very good thing.
Here's to our society's increasing ability to be better able to catch aggressors in the act - be they school yard bullies, thieves, or immigration judges.
We've all heard the musings about how technology is changing our culture - for better or for worse.
The Standard Talking Points
The Cons:
- Distracted drivers (legislation is already in place, or on the way, in many jurisdictions in N. America)
- The rudeness of people talking loudly on their phones in public places (no, I don't want to hear about your sister's divorce issues while on public transit)
- The health impacts of extended cell phone use (our brains as super-antennas?)
- Environmental impact (phones become passe faster than any other technology out there - meaning more waste in e-recycling facilities or in regular old landfills)
The Pros:
- I can check my email anywhere!
- I can be reached in case of emergency
- I can reach you in the event of a castastrophe
- I can play cool games on my phone when I am waiting (commuting, car broken down, doctor is running 40 minutes late again...)
And the other cons - often specific to teens:
- Parents who don't understand how their kid manages to send 5,000 texts a month - yet they have the bills to prove it
- Frustration with teenagers who send instant messages - to the person sitting beside them
- Obnoxious ringtones with the most recent Top 40 (pop, alt, hip-hop or other)
The mobile phone has come to be seen, by some, as little more than an "entertainment box" for youth. But some are challenging this assessment. A comment from a telecom union states that "cellular telephony has brought great and new freedoms for youngsters – and increased security and peace of mind for their parents. It is now possible for young people equipped with cellphones to stay in touch with their parents and for parents to stay in touch with their children. This can help reduce or eliminate the need for meaningless restrictions on young people that were only in place because of parents’ anxiety as to their childrens’ activities or whereabouts." (http://bit.ly/aZ7cmO).
The 'stay in touch' part of the above argument isn't new or particularly engaging but, prior to reading that article, I had never thought of restrictions on youth as "meaningless." Overboard, maybe. Ridiculous, perhaps. This is the new twist.
The suggestion that restrictions are meaningless today could actually give a little weight to the arguments that tweens and teens use when protesting things like curfews, being denied permission to go to new areas, and the suspicion around the introduction of new friends. (Come on, who hasn't cried, "but mommmmmm, that's so unfair!" ?)
And the Implications...
If freedom, then, is the argument how do parents ensure that their kids are well-equipped to handle the risky situations that come with this new-found freedom?
Well, a couple of tips:
- A cell phone is only helpful if it is turned on
- If you only have it on you sometimes, it may not be so handy.
- It actually becomes a tool to use in case of emergency when it's properly programmed (eg. have 1-touch emergency programming in place)
SOS LINK can help with item #3. In fact, we can do more than that. In a compromising situation, users simply push the “START” button on their smartphone. Then, automatically:
- An optional audio alert starts warning the aggressor that their photo is being taken and sent;
- Images are then captured and instantly emailed through our secure server to individuals that have been pre-registered as ‘helpers’; and
- The designated helper(s) receive the images, plus the time, date and GPS location of the individual on a Google Map. The software takes approximately 60 images in 60 seconds, helpers usually receive these alert emails within 15 seconds, and they can respond.
Check out www.soslink.com to learn more. The smartphone isn't just about cool ringtones, games and incessant messaging. It can actually be one-touch lifeline.
Who knew that that this is where we would end up when the 8 pound cell phone was first introduced?
We were all shocked and disgusted by the “tunnel beating” that happened in Seattle on January 28, 2010. Video released showed a 15 year old girl being beaten in a subway station while others stood by and watched.
The girl reported that there had been a confrontation earlier, and that she felt that she was in danger prior to the beating. The victim stated that she had approached police officers and transit officers prior to the attack, but that her reports of feeling threatened were not taken seriously. What might have happened to the 15 year old, if she had been able to alert her family that she was in trouble? How might the outcome have changed? We can't say with any certainty that the violence would have stopped, but she would have been able to immediately alert her family and summon support. In her case, this might have made quite a difference. This is the kind of information that parents want to have - they want to know when their kids are in trouble...
Preventable?
Unfortunately, the situation described above is not an isolated incident. A few recent stats:
- In 2005, 7.4% of youths ages 12-17 reported that, in at least one instance, they had attacked others with intent to seriously hurt them. (2005 SAMHSA National Survey on Drug Use and Health)
- Nationwide, 18.5% of high school students had carried a weapon (gun, knife, or club) one or more days in the last 30 days. The prevalence of having carried a weapon was higher among male (29.8%) than female (7.1%) students. (2005 CDC Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance)
Implications
So, youth violence is a real issue and, as we've seen above, not all youth are able to effectively advocate for themselves and they are not always taken seriously. Technology won't change social stigmas, nor will it prevent all violence. But it is clearly another tool to have in the toolbox - for both youth and their parents - to help keep kids safe.
Welcome new readers!
My name is Jill and I am with SOS LINK. SOS LINK™ is a personal security software company (www.soslink.com) that makes smart, simple, and inexpensive personal security technology that runs on smartphones – such as the iPhone or Blackberry. Thanks for checking out our blog...
The Writer & The Relationship with SOS LINK
I have a background in social services research and, prior to joining SOS LINK, spent the last several years working within the mental health sector.
I became familiar with SOS LINK when we were looking for a product that would help to keep our clinicians safe while they were working outside of the office - usually in the homes of clients. Many of the clients had psychotic disorders and addictions and we needed to find a way to protect our staff in the event that they (or the client) experienced a crisis or emergency. We looked at several options - pagers, GPS locators, call in services... but many were clunky, slow to respond and, ultimately, too expensive for our use. Then I found out about SOS LINK, and the rest is history... here I am.
To Fear, or Not to Fear - That's Actually Not the Question
So, a little more about me. I don't believe in fear-mongering, nor do I jump on the RISK RISK RISK bandwagon.
But I am a realist.
I get that there are reasons to be concerned about one's personal safety:
- there are people out who do not follow social norms,
- there are perpetrators of domestic abuse,
- there are individuals who do not respect the personal space of others,
- there are people who commit crimes (robberies, etc.) to support their addictions, and
- there are people who are simply deviants.
And the list goes on. There is a need to protect ourselves and we all can't become martial artists or live in a bubble where everything is safe and perfect. That's just not realistic. So it's not about whether or not we should be afraid of threats in our communities (the 'to fear or not to fear' question), but how we can be prepared to face them, should anything happen.
The SOS LINK Solution
I chose to join the SOS LINK team because I believe in the product. I think that most people who already use a Blackberry or iPhone wouldn't mind having an extra layer of security - especially since the technology is inexpensive and only requires one to press a "START" button. (This is what is often referred to as a 'low-barrier' solution; that is - one need not be a rocket scientist nor independently wealthy to use it.) In fact, I think most people would welcome such a product and we are committed to telling as many people about this new security option as possible. Hence the blog.
So, keep checking back. I'll be talking about how SOS LINK fits in to this brave new world - and how we can all be a little bit safer.
Cheers,
Jill
